Larry Shenk, Vice President of Alumni Relations, shares his notes, quotes and anecdotes from the world of baseball.

Focus Now On Today

August 31, 2007

What can you say about yesterday’s thriller that hasn’t already been written or said?

The homestand started out pretty bleak but ended with as much excitement as been seen at Citizens Bank Park since the place opened. The place was really rocking yesterday. It was noticed by the players. The fans can be the tenth man on the field the rest of the way.

MVPRyan Howard, Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins will be in the mix when the writers vote for the Most Valuable Player. Votes will be sent in at the end of the season. Post-season play won’t have an impact.

The return of Utley on Monday was followed by four straight wins. That says a lot for his value to the team.

Rollins is getting some national attention as Sports Illustrated has sent a reporter to Miami this weekend.

Barring injury, these three will go down in Phillies history as the greatest players at their positions.

RookiesKyle Kendrick and J. D. Durbin have certainly given the pitching staff a shot in the arm.

Kendrick is one of four NL rookies with seven wins. His 3.89 ERA ranks second among first-year pitchers. Durbin has a five-game winning streak, which matches the season high for rookies.

There are five NL rookies with saves. Durbin and John Ennis (one each) are among the five.

Rookie pitchers are 15-9 for the Phillies this season. In 1980, two rookie pitches played key roles for the Phillies, Bob Walk and Marty Bystrom.

New DayAs much as we enjoy the four-game sweep, today is a new day. The Phillies are in Miami for the Marlins. Focus needs to be on today and not yesterday..

Looking back at four straight wins shouldn’t be on the radar as were the four straight losses last week.

Back on August 21, I commented that the Mets are a fragile team…They are tumbling…perfect time for them to hit a dry spell…after all the Phillies have had slumps a lot this year…and face it, the Mets are an NY overrated team anyway.

Hi Larry. Congratulations on your impending retirement. Has a successor been named?
Since we observed the second anniversary of Hurricaine Katrina lately, it jogged my memory to a story that ran about two months after that storm about how former Whiz Kids’ utility infielder Ralph “Putsy” Caballero had been displaced by that storm. I wonder if you guys could do a follow-up story on his present condition. A simple reply here as to how he’s doing here would be good, if you can’t do a full story on the website home page. Also this month (Sept.14) marks the 63rd anniversary of Granny Hamner, then age 17, and Caballero, then 16, making their major league debuts for the Phils. At a time (1944) when the military had tapped most available baseball talent the Phils decided to sign two players who were too young for the military draft.

My research has shown that there are 22 surviving Phillies who played for the team before the end of World War Two, and naturally “Putsy” at 79 is the youngest. Thanks for any information you can provide on him.

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